RiP Gary Carter

Thanks for your 19 years!

Brett Cecil reports with pitchers and catchers to Blue Jays Training camp in shape. Sounds like he has shed some pounds. Hopefully this will mean a better season than last for him which will go a long way in helping the Jays.

Hmmm... I sent some invites out, but so far, Exy and I are the only ones listed.

Maybe a separate page for the baseball pool just to make sure people are aware? Might help for newbies, too.

I'm out this year. I seem to have trouble staying stable enough to participate for a whole season.

Done.

Was I sent an invite? I apologize if I was, but my hotmail blew up with a crap load of msgs over the last week and I can't find it.

Yeah, but I'll try again. Let me know if you get it.

Lapidate got one, too.

Yeah, my apologies, I haven't registered yet. I'll do that tonight when I get home from work.

There's no rush right now, I just get worried that the invitations get lost somehow.

Grady's hurt. Again.

You know, he was once the best young outfielder in baseball. Then we learned that his bones are made of glass and his muscles are made of pudding.


It's sad.

My theory? He was on HGH before they started testing for it. Once they started, he quit and now he's just a brittle mess.

I don't think there is a test for HGH, and if there is it's really really new.

Regardless, I don't disagree with your point.

You're right, the testing for HGH is quite new, it was just allowed under the new CBA and it's a blood test they do to find it. From what I've heard, the first round of testing is actually beginning this month and going through spring training. I doubt that would be the direct cause of Sizemore's injuries because these issues have now been going on for the past few seasons. His back issue could be a result of having taken various other steroids. I'm no medical doctor, but I would think that putting on muscle mass might cause back issue for a person, especially if they were to stop taking what was providing that muscle mass and all of a sudden their back is no longer strong enough to support the amount of weight on it. I mean, anything's possible, but since this this has happened so quickly for him I'd almost be just as tempted to believe he's either unlucky, or just has a "bad back," as it were.

Fantastic read on the fallout of Roberto Hernandez (AKA: Fausto Carmona) and age-shaving in the Dominican.

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ss ... tcher.html

Playoff expansion: Thoughts?

I think it's a great idea. I still think the playoff field is too small in baseball, but this expansion is a fantastic starting point.

Love the expansion in principal, baseball does need to add more to the playoffs. That being said, the way they've gone about it is not great. I'd list my own reasons for this, but I found it summed up pretty nicely in an article I read last night:

"As I’ve written before, what I don’t like about this system, aside from this year’s wonky scheduling, is that it places the teams with the two best records after the division winners on equal footing. If we’re talking in terms of ensuring that the best teams make it to the playoffs under a three division format, then one Wild Card makes perfect sense.

If we look at the final standings of past seasons, more often than not the Wild Card winner finished with a better record than at least one of the division winners. The next best team rarely does this. When the Wild Card winner comes from a division like the AL East, it means that despite a tougher schedule they likely managed to play better than one of the other two division winners throughout the season. A second Wild Card winner, didn’t do this."

US gets the Adrian Gonzalez cover. Who else picked up a copy?

BRYCE HARPER IS GOING TO MAKE THE TEAM.... THE GUY'S A FREAK

He better! I drafted him last year in a keeper league. I need him to contribute this year

Pettitte signs one year minor league deal with NYY worth $2.5m.
Not a terrible signing at that price, especially if he can eat some innings for the team. But he's 39, has missed an entire season and only hit 129 IP in his last year with the team. Not much of a gamble at 2.5 and could end up paying off big time. Great signing for the Yankees, as much as I hate them